Editor’s note: I had my daughter read this before posting, and her response was, “Meh, whatever.” I take that as permission to heartlessly exploit her.
My daughter is staying with me while she’s looking for a new job – one that pays well enough so she doesn’t have to live in a tent with a steady diet of road kill and pop tarts (strawberry – unfrosted). She doesn’t have enough money to go out and party, so this means we’re together A LOT! Desperate for a pastime that doesn’t include helping her mother fold laundry, clip coupons, or pluck nose hairs, she finally considered social networking.
This has been a taboo subject for us in the past. I don’t ask about her fashion choices, her political leanings, or her favorite sexual position. (Sometimes she tells me anyway. TMI) But as a good mother, I’ve never pressured her into any social experience that carries the danger of making me a grandmother, or even a virtual grandmother. People: please post responsibly – use protection.
She has treated Facebook with the same contempt that she would show to season 10 of America’s Next Top Model. (Tanisha was a real brat!) I would tend to agree (with her assessment of Tanisha – not Facebook).
Prospective employers are not supposed to research job applicants on Facebook, but sometimes they still do. Since Bekki wants to look like a hot commodity on the job market, she bit the bullet and asked me to help her sign up. There is nothing quite as pathetic as looking at that profile page and seeing “You have no friends.” This does not say “hot commodity” to employers looking for a real people person.
We’ve all been social networking virgins at one time or another, but my daughter leapt onto it like a lion on a wildebeest. For the last 12 hours, she has been friending, posting, commenting, and liking till her eyes are bleeding. She came up for air long enough to ask, “Mommy, am I still unpopular?” Give it time, dear. Give it time.
If you’d like to see some REALLY funny pics, and spread some love and likes so she doesn’t look like a total dweeb to employers, please feel free to check out her site at: facebook.com/rebecca.gibson You’ll be doing her a favor, and I might be getting my guest room back.
So…you had to teach your daughter the ins and outs of social networking? Most of us learned about it from our kids!
And then our kids found a new site because they don’t want to be seen with us….
I never got the parenting handbook, so I just make it up as I go. My kids don’t know that I’m doing it all wrong.
The quest to get the guest room back is all consuming, isn’t it? I’m laughing at the TMI reference!
You have no idea. My friend moved out last month, and my daughter moved in 3 weeks later. I barely had time to wash the sheets.
Your a cool mom. I have to get my 12 year-old granddaughter to help me with anything technical. After a year she finally showed me how to change my profile picture on Facebook.
Bekki thinks I’m a cool mom, but only because I snort when I laugh.
I found your great blog through the WLC Blog Follows on the World Literary Cafe! Great to connect!
Thanks for connecting, Amber. I really like your site too.
I’m dropping by from the WLC Blog Follows program! I am really enjoying your blog 🙂
Best wishes,
James
Thanks, James. I popped over to your website as well. You’ve got some amazing artwork for your book covers! Glad to connect.
You should consider it a personal triumph to be teaching your daughter about social networking. Most times, the kids do the teaching. I used to get a nice little burst of satisfaction whenever either of my sons would call to ask my opinion/advice on anything computer. Come to think of it, they haven’t called in quite awhile. Oh no! My babies don’t need me any more!
I need a glass of wine…
And then I’ll check out your daughter’s facebook.
🙂
Bekki didn’t even have internet until recently (gasp!). Yeah – weird, right? That’s why she’s really behind the eight-ball on this. That and her previous disdain for social networking. Since she got on facebook, she’s been glued to the computer. She’s quick like a bunny, so pretty soon she’ll be teaching me a thing or two, and the universe will be back in order.
I found your great blog through the WLC Blog Follows on the World Literary Cafe! Great to connect!
Thanks for stopping by Marilou.
Absolutely love this post. I was in a similar position once but it was my daughter teaching me how to be cool. 🙂 Stopping by from WLC and Adventures of a Broken Housewife and Mom. Great to connect!
Thanks for stopping by. Both my daughter and I were born without the “cool” gene.